It wasn’t pretty, but the Toronto Maple Leafs picked up a win in a game in which they were outshot 39-19.
The Dallas Stars’ Roope Hintz broke in on a breakaway with a chance to give his team a two-goal lead in the second, but Joseph Woll shut him down and William Nylander immediately beat Jake Oettinger to tie it. Nick Robertson found the back of the net 16 seconds later, and the Leafs never looked back. Craig Berube’s team picked up a 5-3 victory in a tough building, but despite the win, the overall team grade is a C.
Nick Robertson: A+
Robertson beat Oettinger with a wrist shot from the high slot to give the Leafs the lead in the second. Five minutes later, he stole the puck on a strong backcheck and swiftly set up Bobby McMann for Toronto’s fourth goal. He always seems to find a way to play his best against his brother, Jason.
Max Domi: A
Domi didn’t score in his first 22 games of the season but finally got the monkey off his back Sunday against Buffalo. It didn’t take him long to double his season total, as he scored his second goal in as many games by beating Oettinger with a perfect shot six minutes in. Domi’s goal came just 59 seconds after Dallas opened the scoring.
Joseph Woll: A-
Woll let in the second shot that he faced on a breakaway chance. His team tied it up less than a minute later, and even though the Leafs were heavily outshot, Woll kept the game tied heading into the first intermission.
He got off to a rough start again in the second, as the first shot beat him. However, he bounced back with a key breakaway save on Hintz and the Leafs immediately brought the puck up and scored seconds later to tie it. Nick Robertson gave the Leafs the lead sixteen seconds later, so it felt like a three-goal swing.
His best save came off a two-on-one chance in the third, as his ability to slide laterally quickly kept the lead at two. He was excellent again once Dallas pulled its goalie, but he had no chance at saving a Colin Blackwell goal in the final minutes that briefly pulled the Stars within one.
Joseph Woll made a key save on a Roope Hintz breakaway to give the Leafs momentum. (Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
Bobby McMann: B+
McMann watched both of his linemates score, and after seeing how fun it looked, decided to join the party. Robertson set him up with a decent rush chance and McMann took advantage by firing a well-placed wrist shot between Oettinger’s glove and left pad with just under nine minutes left in the second.
Jake McCabe: B
McCabe was on for the first goal against, and it looked like he lost his footing for a split second ahead of the play. The goal wasn’t all on him, as Auston Matthews was even worse on the play, but McCabe deserves at least a bit of criticism for the costly sequence. If you ignore this one play, he was one of the better players.
The fourth-line penalty killers (Steven Lorentz, David Kämpf): B-
They created nothing at even strength, but they deserve some credit for their work on the penalty kill, which went 4-for-4. Kämpf returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 16 and his stick positioning helped to break up a scoring chance on an early kill.
Ryan Reaves: C+
He didn’t look like a liability out there, but at some point he needs to fight and throw some big hits. He wasn’t overly noticeable.
William Nylander: C
Nylander was sloppy early and racked up a couple of giveaways. He made up for it by tying the game at two in the second, surging on a partial breakaway to beat Oettinger to the glove side. He also sealed the game with an empty-netter, but despite the goals, he wasn’t his usual dominant self.
Chris Tanev and Simon Benoit: C
Hintz got behind Tanev for a breakaway in the early second, but it didn’t result in a goal against. Benoit took a penalty in the middle of the second, but it didn’t result in a goal against. This wasn’t an A+ game for either of them, but they weren’t terrible, either.
Auston Matthews: C-
Matthews got off to a terrible start with a poor defensive play ahead of Sam Steel’s opening goal. It looked like he was half asleep, and he took a weird route to try and generate a takeaway rather than staying in the middle and forcing Steel to the outside. He bounced back by completing a nifty saucer pass to spring Nylander for a breakaway goal in the second, and came awfully close to scoring one himself a handful of minutes later.
Mitch Marner: C-
Marner made a key stretch pass ahead of Toronto’s second goal and picked up a secondary assist as a result. He deserves some credit for his work on the penalty kill, but he was quiet by his standards.
The second pair (Morgan Rielly, Oliver Ekman-Larsson): C-
Rielly had a great view of Dallas’ second goal, unable to get his stick in the lane ahead of Evgenii Dadonov’s shot. They were on for quite a few chances against, and since their team was outplayed, it’s not like they were driving the bus in a major way offensively.
The second line (Matthew Knies, John Tavares, Max Pacioretty): D+
This trio didn’t pick up an even-strength shot on goal until the third, and while they were fine defensively, the team expected far more offence out of them. The lone bright spots were when Pacioretty bowled over Mavrik Bourque eight minutes in and when Tavares won a key puck battle that led to the empty-netter.
Conor Timmins: D
Timmins took a puck-over-glass penalty with five minutes to go in the first and a slashing penalty less than three minutes later. He should have been back in the box for a blatant cross-check two minutes into the second, but a missed call kept him from picking up a penalty hat trick in the span of three shifts.
Game Score
What’s next?
The Leafs head to Buffalo to play the Sabres at 7 p.m. Friday on Sportsnet Ontario.
(Top photo of Nick Robertson: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
